Dress has always been my strongest suit (OPEN)

[Guinevere]

“Murder?” said Gwen turning to look at the young woman, “well now that does sound interesting...”

She did not want to pry but if the girl was willing to speak about her past then Gwen was willing to listen. She enjoyed collecting stories about other people, they were interesting and no doubt further down the line it would prove to be of some use. It also helped to understand who she was speaking too, understand their personality due to the manner they tell their tale. So she left it to the vampire whether she wanted to pass on her story or not.

“Oh he can be intelligent when wants to be, just not very observant,” she said fondly, “and no, he did not react well to that, certainly not at first. However they got over it and finally came to terms with many other thing too which was quite frankly a relief. I was getting sick of the two of them moaning at me about the other…although…they still sort of do that sometimes.”

[Carmilla Karnstein]

Carmilla's disagreement was pretty clear by the bored expression on her face. "I suppose that's one way of putting it. I hardly ever think about it anymore, and despite everything, I suppose it's hard to mourn something that gave you freedoms you'd never have dreamed of...where would I have been if I hadn't been killed? Some bored wife of a nobleman after my dowry, probably..." Besides, murder had become almost blase in her life. Murder was just part of the equation when one was a vampire.

"I suppose my patience for men tends to wear thin...although good for them, figuring things out, I suppose." She had suspected this had been something of a closet case, ESPECIALLY with the mention of Merlin turning himself into a girl. Gods, it was like one of Shakespeare's comedies in reverse. "It can be rather difficult to do that..." Once again thoughts of Elle plagued her...how could she believe her "new friend in the village" over her, she often wondered. The fact that she had been feeling particularly haunted by her lost love before arriving here certainly didn't help the sense of jealousy over Merlin and Arthur's good fortune in working out their damn issues...

[Guinevere]

“Being a vampire is definitely a more interesting life,” said Gwen, nodding in agreement, “or at least so I imagine. Did you get your revenge on him, your father?”

She smiled at the memory and said, “Yes, it was good.”

Whether it was her maternal instincts or just the instincts she’d had since she was a student here, she picked up something under the words that the young girl said. It almost sounded more personal, like she had been speaking from experience when she said ‘It can be rather difficult to do that’. Gwen considered her for a moment and then said, “Well, it is easier here, in Tintagel you have a lot more space to just be yourself, to find out who you are and what you want. You might not have a good idea right now, but give it time…this place changes people…mostly for the better…”

[Carmilla Karnstein]

Carmilla shrugged, chuckling. "No, can't say I did. I left that place and never looked back...but I got my revenge on some...other people...a man named Vordenburg was," and she even used finger quotes here, because it was pretty clear she was nothing but a possession to him, and his actions upon her death proved that. "'In love' with me and essentially kidnapped my corpse...there was quite a lot of satisfaction in coming back and seeing the look on his face before..." And she smirked, deciding that perhaps being more socially acceptable would almost be more fun, letting Gwen's imagination take over. "Well I suppose a lady doesn't kill and tell."

Gwen's implication that she needed to be given space for who she was almost made her laugh. Carmilla couldn't quite pick the moment she knew she was a lesbian, but it had happened long ago, and becoming a vampire alone had worked wonders for her acceptance of that. Not to mention her world had more or less gotten over any of the stigma of not being straight...and she and Elle were going to have a life together, running away to New York...it was the vampire thing, ironically, that had been the breaking point, though sometimes she wondered if Elle had been spurred by panic over her feelings for her as well...

"Well I don't know about that. People say things change but they don't...not really. Not in the grand scheme of things..."

[Guinevere]

She listened to the story of Vordenburg intently and smiled at the conclusion of the tale, “Indeed they do not. However I am pleased to know that he paid for his inappropriate actions. If I provided you a list with the names of such men back home, do you think you could do the same? Or at least scare them enough that they may think twice about doing it again?”

Gwen was only half joking. Men who visited the Summer Country were careful not to show inappropriate attention where it was not wanted, however, in Camelot, there were some who showed no such restraint. In her own lands they would be dealt with quickly and on occasion to avoid all out war, would be sent packing back to their own domain. In Camelot…things were a little harder to deal with. Arthur did what he could, as did the knights, but unfortunately the nobles and barons that sat on the council still held quite a bit of sway and too often did one of her ladies in waiting come to her in tears…She dealt with such men personally…eventually…

“Well history does tend to repeat itself,” conceded Gwen, “however that doesn’t mean that we don’t change. I changed. I came here an idealistic young romantic. I left in a marriage of convenience with two ex-lovers and a far more cynical view on the world. Change isn’t always obvious, but it does happen.”

[Carmilla Karnstein]

Perhaps part of why Carmilla found this conversation oddly pleasant was just how okay with her murderous past Gwen clearly was. What few humans found out what she truly was liked to deem her a monster from the get go, who KNEW how they'd react if she ever went into the gory details. It was quite like what Mattie liked to say; "Do you know how you get to live as long as I have? You learn to stop judging." And clearly Gwen had learned that...Mattie might actually like Gwen. She already suspected as much from Gwen's sense of style, but with her attitude to boot...oh. They were rather similar weren't they? Mattie, I hope you find your way here, I'd love to see how you two fare in a boutique together... The thought almost, almost made Carmilla smile without a hint of irony.

Not that she was going to admit it. Nope...

Instead she chuckled at Gwen's teasing suggestion. "Perhaps...you'll have to catch me hungry, though," she quipped...although honestly the thought of tearing out the throats of whomever decided to mess with the paradise that Gwen had described sounded strangely appealing. Was this where the whole fealty nonsense came from? God, she hoped that Gwen showed that she wasn't SO different from the politicians she typically hated soon, or Carmilla was going to find herself developing loyalty and she couldn't have that.

As for Gwen's stance on change, Carmilla shrugged. "Well yes, I'll grant you that. I doubt you'd have recognized me if you had met me before I turned. I just meant humanity in general...it doesn't help that we're just a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things."

[Guinevere]

It was good to hear the girl laughing, even if it was only a chuckle, she got the impression she did not do it much and so was happy to have invoked that in her. Gwen smiled at her quip and said, “oh well we can’t have you starving.”

Speaking of hunger…Tristian was pulling at her hand and said, “I’m hungry, can we go have lunch now.”

She looked around the Mall at all the empty and abandoned shops and said, “there did used to be a food court here, we could maybe go have a look for it, although I doubt there will be anything still in date there.”

Turning back to Carmilla she said, “will you join us? Or are you off to find a snack of your own?”